Milwaukee, WI – On Monday, August 24, Reproductive Justice Action- Milwaukee (RJAM) hosted a banner drop and rally outside of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa to demand restoration of gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The event organizers created a 25-foot banner of the trans flag sporting the slogan “Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin: Restore care now. Trans kids deserve to live.” 

The banner drop and rally got the attention of the Children's security team, but the protesters didn’t back down. RJAM member Grae Felion shared, “We are here today because every young person deserves safety, dignity and the freedom to be who they are.” 

In January, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin stopped offering gender-affirming care that was in the form of puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. “Children’s leadership decided to comply in advance to an unlawful threat made by the Trump administration. Instead of protecting trans youth, they abandoned them,” stated Felion at the rally after the banner drop. 

Out of fear of funding cuts, the leadership of Children’s Hospital preemptively changed its services to align with an unlawful threat made by the Trump administration. This threat was later ruled unlawful by both state and federal judges. Despite this, for the past eight months, Children’s has refused to make any changes. 

Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee has been leading protests demanding the reintroduction of pharmacological gender-affirming care for all patients. 

On August 1, members of RJAM hand delivered 1028 petition signatures and statements directly to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin leadership. RJAM founding member Kate Buschmann stated, “Many of those signatures came with comments written by healthcare providers and families of trans youth sharing personal stories about the harm Children’s is causing trans youth. My name is among those comments.”

Buschmann continued, “My ten-year-old began exploring their gender identity and asked that they use he/they pronouns. Since choosing to go by he/they pronouns, my ten-year-old feels they have been living a more authentic life. A life that, as a mom, I know will enable them to grow into a young adult with dignity and positive self-image.”

Buschmann concluded, “I am giving this speech today to say whether it directly affects you or not, you should care about the future of the children of the state of Wisconsin. They should not be the ones left to suffer because the leadership of Children’s Hospital has decided to cave to pressure stemming from the Trump administration. I encourage you to take action: sign our petition, stop to chat with anyone in RJAM, learn more about this campaign.” 

Attendees also heard from Wisconsin State Representative Ryan Clancy, an advocate for the LGBTQ community and co-founder of the Trans Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus. Clancy opened his speech by pointing out a rainbow that had peeked out of the clouds during the rally, saying, “Thank you rainbow for showing up here too! All sorts of folks are on the right side of this.” 

Clancy shared his experience as a parent of both cisgender and transgender children. After sharing a story about the life-saving care his middle, cisgender child received at Children’s Hospital, Clancy said, “It is extremely beyond frustrating that Children’s is not providing the same care that they did for my cis child as to my trans kids any longer.” 

Clancy continued, “I hope that Children’s leadership will take a lesson from their amazing staff. All we are asking is to do no harm, go back to the excellent level of care you were providing years ago. Do the right thing, restore gender-affirming care, and do it now. Because right now you are doing harm, and not the Trump administration. It's on you, and you can fix this.” 

Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee continues to fight for safe and sustainable communities for all, demanding the reintroduction of lifesaving, gender-affirming care for all patients of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, because our trans youth deserve better.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #LGBTQ #GenderAffirmingCare #TransRights #Healthcare

Madison, WI – On Saturday, September 23, activists and allies from the Trans Resistance Action Committee (TRAC) demonstrated outside the Capitol building in Madison to demand that Dane County drop the Dean Health insurance plan.

Dean Health is an affiliate of SSM Health, a Catholic, not-for-profit health system. SSM Health stopped providing gender-affirming surgeries at its Aesthetics Center in Middleton, Wisconsin in July. This came after increasing pressure from the Catholic Church for Catholic health care organizations to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender people. This move is part of a continued increase in anti-trans legislation, rhetoric and policy across the United States.

Logan Bitz, a founding member of TRAC and co-organizer of the rally, said, “I’m trans and I had gender-affirming surgery at the Aesthetics Center before they discontinued treatments. The obscene medical hurdles I’ve faced have always left me irate for everyone else who needs access to this kind of care. It’s always been my hope that things will only continue to get easier for others than it was for me, but the SSM decision is a perfect example that that’s not where things are heading.”

The chants, speeches and signs of TRAC activists got the attention of hundreds of people who were walking around Capitol square for the weekly Dane County Farmers Market.

TRAC is a grassroots organization that was founded to advocate for trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people’s rights in the Madison area. Cae Dallman, an organizer with and founder of TRAC, spoke about the demand for Dane County to drop SSM: “This summer, Dane County became a transgender sanctuary. Dumping SSM Health as a result of their bigoted decision to stop providing gender-affirming care would demonstrate that this resolution wasn’t just words on paper.”

#MadisonWI #SSMHealth #TransRights #GenderAffirmingCare